Tiger Woods, golf’s last standalone superstar, makes his latest comeback this week in Bermuda at the Hero World Challenge, which is the slightly grand name for a 16 man hand-picked field playing for fun in the sun-blessed Caribbean.
The golfing world is agog at the great man’s latest return, with grown men reportedly booking time off to see what some are suggesting is close to the second coming. Certainly Tiger has been feeding the fire, posting Instagram videos of his swing, and famous stinger, for his adoring fans to fawn over.
The big problem is that although it is good that his back has recovered so he can play the game, there is a massive difference between a few swings with your mates and playing at the highest level of the game. There are many factors why this comeback and its fawning might be based on blind hope rather than expectation.
Firstly, there is the fatigue factor. Playing 4 competitive rounds in 4 days, and walking the 12km or so that goes along with it is rather tiring, especially in the deep core muscles used in the modern golf swing. Tiger is older now, and will be protecting injuries in his knees and back, so it is open to question whether he has the conditioning of the core and back he will need to play well over 4 days. Tiredness of course, will lead to poor sequencing, and possibly in the worst case, injury recurrences.
Secondly, it is now over 8 years since the infamous November night when his then wife Elin found out about his other interests. 8 years. That is a long time for anyone, let along a professional sports man. He was last competitive in 2013, when he finished in the Top 10 at the Masters and The Open, which is still 5 years ago. No sportsman who hasn’t been competitive for so long can expect to come back at the same level.
Finally, the bad news is that Tiger is now definitely an old man in a young man’s game. The number of 40 plus year olds competing and occasionally winning can be counted on one hand, so to expect Tiger to come back and win regularly is wishful, and to win 4 majors to match Jack Nicklaus 18 is so unlikely its hardly worth mentioning.
In truth, the best that Tiger fans can hope for would be 1 win to prove that he has conquered his injuries. If this came in a major, at Augusta maybe, that would be the icing on what is one of the greatest careers the game has ever seen. Hopefully his fawning fans will remember the good times rather than this latest attempt at a coup de grace.
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